Attraction
by 3431jess
Summary: Semi-interconnecting plot around KFP universe that would roughly fit the canon.
1. The Nightmare

This is the missing scene from both KFP2, 'The best plan,' KFP2 right after the defeat of Shen, and from KFP3 right after the fight with Kai.

KFP owned by Dreamworks.

THE NIGHTMARE

* * *

"Viper?"

" _Shhh…_." the female serpent turned around, signaling the insect, avian, and the golden langur to keep noise to the ultimate minimum.

"What?" Crane knotted his brows in confusion.

"Listen to _this_ ," she invited, signaling the rest to do the same. Placing their ears by the wooden door that separated the kitchen and the student's quarter, they heard two familiar voices, bickered over something.

"Po… tell me you are joking, we are not going to do _this_?" a voice of a female tiger came, loud and unrestrained.

"Why not?" the panda challenged.

"Isn't that obvious?" the tiger answered, "It'll be a very unpleasant experience… _trust_ me."

"Have you ever tried it, though?" the panda rebutted stubbornly.

"No, of course not! Are you nuts? That's the most morbid idea I ever heard in my life!"

"Ahh… come onnnn Tigress. It'll be fun. Shall we try? Just once," the panda was persistently cajoling his friend.

"Well… ok. Do it slowly … I bet it'll... _ugh_...hurt." they heard her complying voice, dropping down to nervousness "...let's hope none of the others found out I have involved myself doing a ludicrous idea of yours," the tiger lowered down her voice."I could almost guarantee this is going to fail miserably." She said again, "So, what should I do first?"

"Heat that up." He commanded, "you won't be humiliated, trust me…. Anyway… they've seen enough of you doing crazy things with me, right?" they heard the panda chuckling teasingly.

The insect was the first to muffle his outburst while combing his dirty, twisted look towards other eavesdroppers.

"What are they _doing_?" Crane brows furrowed deeply. He whispered, but ears still firmly glued to the door.

"Something naughty…" Monkey put his hands over his mouth to stifle his chuckle.

"No… It would be something…. _naughty_ ," the insect rephrased, adding a scandalous look into the mixture.

"Geez, why would they do it in the kitchen, the door doesn't even have a lock! Wouldn't be in a bedroom or Wu Dan mountain would be more… _private_?" the avian master refuted.

"Or Shifu's bedroom," Monkey appended, flushing his head back onto the leaf of the door.

"Guys, are you crazy, Po and Tigress would never do that!" Viper defended with a sinister frown.

"You'll be surprised," the insect guffawed.

A few minutes later, they heard a sound of nervous, nail-biting rustling from inside the kitchen.

"Po… ready?" They heard Tigress whispering loudly.

"Ready."

A sudden yelp, clamorous sound of a pan and crashing plates reverberated from the kitchen, followed by a sound of the devious feminine chuckle. The floodgate of their curiosities was immediately unbridled, as the interlopers decided this was the right moment to barge in.

"Guys… what's going on?" Viper eyes widened witnessing the disheveled kitchen.

"Dude… w-what happened to you?" Mantis hastily leaped atop of the panda belly, watching him making a sporadic gagging motion, paws clutching tightly to his throat.

"Don't tell me Tigress was trying to murder you," Crane retorted sarcastically. The usually short tempered tiger was too busy laughing at her friend's suffering to notice Crane's slanderous remark.

"Po was trying to cook rice by eating it raw and drank boiling water," she explained, a wide grin still plastered across her face.

"Quick Po, infirmary!"

* * *

So Tigress had seen quite many sides of Po's jovial, eccentric, a little psychotic ― yet lovable persona. He was not normally letting himself being seen morose nor languid for many reasons, but all inevitably happened on their trip to Gongmen.

She found herself trailing behind him into a dark, scattered forest that eventually led them to a desolated village by the river outside Gongmen. It was clear that there was some kind of incursion many years ago in that place. He trudged through the killing zone, smoldering remains of houses that had been wrapped in a thick blanket of moss, the air was sour and eerie.

He stopped in the middle of the clearing, and headed to one of the house, carefully opened the door that was barely hanging on its hinges. The living room was small, covered with spider webs betwixt seared broken furniture, the floor was charred and covered with ashes. Suddenly his eyes went distant and soulless. His form was rigid and serious. She witnessed as the turmoil of emotion began to take form inside him, something very different from his usual extrovert and positive gentility until Tigress turned to call his name.

"Po? What is this place?"

The panda turned to her, but instead of giving her an answer, he barraged through the door and fled. Left confused, Tigress called his name, reaching out for him while tracking behind him into the dense forest.

She found his hunch silhouette by the grove of bamboo trees, lumbering forward, with both paws on his face. Finally, she saw the other side of the courageous, spirited and almost unbreakable hero that she knew - this was Po, not the Dragon Warrior. He had weaknesses and insecurities that he had to fight every now and then, and this was Po that her best friend. Kneeling next to him, she gently reached his shoulder while regulating her clipping breath from tearing her lungs.

"Po… you can tell me whatever, I am all ears."

He hearkened to her voice, and removed his paws from his face, letting her touched his face gently and repelled his tears away. A strange sorrow stirred her heart seeing him like that. She gazed tenderly at his glisten emerald eyes. She could see the turmoiling emotion and hundreds of things he wanted to say, but there were no words could ever describe how he felt right then.

"That… was a place where I was orphaned."

Then Tigress understood, Po just ran from the ghost of his past.

She remembered how vulnerable she was after witnessing the panda being shot by canon. Shen! Yes…. that deranged peacock whose desire for power and fame had brought a curse unto himself. She felt intensely hurt like there was a knife twisting there. And all obviously ignited inside that dank jail, when she made her first show of physical closeness with anyone in years, spelling out the extent of her empathy towards his desire to know his past. _The hardcore does understand_ ….. But of course, she couldn't afford to lose him. She felt the sense of fear was getting harder to ignore.

Unwittingly, her vision blurred, enshrouded by an unbidden blanket of tears.

 _It does not suppose to turn out like this, not one bit._ Tigress chided her unbidden sentiment. _You had never even cried over Shifu… nor cried over yourself!_

How Po could truly forgive that demonic creature, was really beyond her. Not only Shen robbed him of his family, his kind - he had nearly done it twice…. _TWICE_! As if his suffering being the only panda wasn't enough, Shen was going to deprive the panda of his new found friends and family. This made her so angry with culminating rage. If she were Po, she would be spending her life in years of repressed hate, revulsion, and trauma. But instead, his face was masked with innocence and patience.

Maybe this was the true power of Dragon Warrior.

"Tigress, are you ok?" now his turn to sound genuinely concerned. She felt his paw reached her cheek, wiping something salty and wet. And then firmly he tugged her into his arm.

And this hug? No wonder it felt so right. This was exactly like the first hug he gave her…. down by the Gongmen pier. That gentle, concerned and relief look in his emerald eyes, his warm and comforting arms, his broad and plush shoulder, and his round, kind and innocent face.

"Tigress ― thank you. I knew you I could confide in you." His lips spread in a grin, a smile that untangled all her emotions into tranquility.

Po was able to see her not just as a mighty warrior, but also as a person.

Moreover as a friend.

* * *

It's finally over. The battle was concluded, the victory was won, and that evil chi collector was banished into the depth of the spirit realm for good.

But as all the excitement wear off, the effect of adrenaline dissipated, throbbing pain began to surface, reminding the warriors that indeed, they had gone through a lot these past few days. Clutching her afflicted torso, within her vantage ― Tigress could see some of his family were patching each other. Crane with Viper, Mantis with Monkey, and she saw Grandma Panda overbearingly giving a lecture to her father, while generously applying some strange looking solvent on his bruised shoulder ― which was hit by Kai's blade yesterday. The way her father cringed, winced, but mostly miffed with the old lady line of patronizing speech, had invited a generous, delightful smirk on her maw.

On the other side of her peripheral view, Mr. Ping had employed his excellent organizational skill that came from running a restaurant, and his culinary proclivity to feed the rest of the hungry mobs. They were all queued neatly in line with a bowl on their hand. While Li was helping a few males to patch up the broken roof dodged by the dumpling squad on their endeavor to distract the jombies. Not far from where she sat, Tigress saw the ongoing racket among the panda cubs over some leftover dumplings that were scattered under the table before the ordeal. While on her lap, Lei Lei gently snore and curled contentedly, clutching the mini figure of herself within her grasp.

It was nearly another genocide ― she shuddered at the thought, but a wave of deep relief immediately engulfed her. It was just a mere fiction from her pessimistic fantasy. The pandas nearly had to face sudden extinction twice, but it was only _nearly…_ it had never actually happened.

"Tigress!" That booming voice deceptively came from his tiny comrade, Mantis carefully approached her with a bowl of bean bun, while prudently watching his movement not to wake the sleeping panda.

"This for you ― the hardcore still needs to eat," he gently teased, lowering his voice to an inaudible whisper.

"I am surprised you dare come near Lei Lei," the tiger retaliated back, reminding the insect of how much Lei Lei shipped him to date with her Tigress' action figure.

"Worst still, I might end up dating the real one… I think I'll stick with the wooden one," he satirically quipped before he left.

Tigress sat there, letting her mind wander as she started plowing politely into her first dinner in these past few days.

"Hey," she felt a familiar warm paw on her shoulder.

"My dad said we could use his hut, wanna come?" She met the tranquil emerald eyes of her best friend. Tigress nodded weakly, she cradled sleeping Lei Lei, and carefully passed her to Grandma Panda, who immediately averted her attention from rhetorically patronizing Shifu's recklessness.(Shifu could thank her later!)

"Tigress, Po… you both should rest for the night." Shifu commanded, his imperious gaze sternly landed on her. After raising the tiger for decades, he only knew how her strong willfulness would propel her to push herself beyond her physical limit. He could just see the argument forming on the tiger's chest in response to his utterance.

"You both need to be well enough before we sojourn back to Valley of Peace. And tomorrow, the pandas may need your strength to help them with the reconstruction." Her father judicious consideration immediately caused her line of defense died prematurely on her lips.

Shifu paid Dragon Warrior a meaningful nod before dismissing them. Both of them excused themselves to rest for the night. Soon, they were threading the bridge which led to Li's hut.

Po combed his sight upon his best friend overall figure. She had a few scrapes around her shoulder and her elbow where her qipao was torn, some minor bruises affected her knees and her face, while her paws were the worst; they were visibly swollen, and some of her claws had completely gone in exchange of bloody stump.

"You look bad," she heard Po commented, there was an edge of plaguing guilt in his voice. Even though Po had seen her in worse condition after valiantly confronting a blazing ball of metal that would forever leave a searing mark on her flesh, but seeing her battered, weakened and exhausted was as bad.

She reciprocated and looked at him meticulously, obvious bruising and laceration scattered all around his body from enduring the yak's single lethal blow. Even with his fluffiness, the evidence of the damage was loud and clear, almost reminding that his past ordeal with Tai Lung was merely a stroll in the park compared to this.

"I am sure this is not a fat mirror, but you look terrible yourself Po," she chuckled. Both smiled. After numerous missions together, they both knew so well how to alternate the role of nursing each other injuries…. and to banter satirical joke in between to alleviate the physical pain.

"I'll do yours first," the panda voiced his decision, inviting the tiger to sit on the edge of the bed, while he knelt in front of her. Tigress gave a notion of permitting him to examine her before he decided on appropriate treatment.

"Scraping, bruising, laceration…. the worst are your claws and your broken ribs," he announced his diagnosis. He stood up and interrogated the content of his father's medical cabinet before selecting a couple of ointments, oils and a few rolls of bandages.

"I still can't believe it… you actually climb that thing? Geez…. Tigress. I know you are hardcore, you don't have to prove that again to me y'know..." He jokingly made a remark about her tenacity overcoming the frozen waterfall, to climb beyond its limits and to reach the village above.

"No one tells me there is a manual lift next to it," she defended her decision.

"Well, no one asked!" Po taunted her back while his paw was laboriously washing and disinfecting the wounds on her palms and her knee. The medicinal smell hung in the air as soon as Po opened up the jars. He gently dabbed the solvent with a piece of rag onto the affected area. He mentally cringed witnessing the extensive scraping on the sole of her foot and her paws from continuously running from Valley of Peace to Panda Village, and imagining her effort climbing that frozen waterfall while bearing such injuries was beyond him.

"Please… don't do this again," Tigress noted the sudden upheaval in his tone. She looked at his somber, perturbed emerald eyes. "I won't if I don't have to," she replied diplomatically, slowing rubbing her other unattended paw reassuringly on the top of his paw. The panda smiled and sighed, a mixture of relief and remorse in his eyes.

Suddenly, he paused all of his activity, "Mm… I don't know how to do your ribs… without me―"

"Po, which one you choose, seeing me naked, or seeing me dead?" Tigress retorted bluntly with a hint of sarcasm. Sure Tigress hated feeling exposed and vulnerable, but she had trusted the panda with her life, besides… being unclad didn't reduce her ability to obliterate anyone to pieces.

"Ok, I think I got the point." He rolled his eyes, and helped her to undress, "...― anyway, I liked what I've seen," he teased, inviting a blush under her auburn fur. It's not Po's first time to see her half unclad. A few years ago, an arrow impaled her chest between her shoulder blade and her ribcage. He remembered the horrific sight of seeing her bathed in blood, heaving and breathing laboriously. He reminisced how he savagely tore her ensanguined qipao to get to the arrow without even thinking, while the four watching him with absolute terror of losing their comrades. Privacy and modesty were a second concern for saving one's life, and very much a distant concept of life as a warrior. They often had to share the same room and bathroom, all six of them ― regardless of size and gender. Anyway, if anyone had not noticed, Viper and Mantis were practically naked all the time.

"My Dad asks me to pass his words of gratitude to you." He quickly changed the topic, riposted nonchalantly, while rubbing more solvent onto her bare chest to numb her broken ribs before securing the bandage.

"I just did what needed to be done, Po. If they wanted to thank anyone for saving them today, it was down to you," she humbly replied.

"Hey… it's team effort Tigress. If you didn't warn us, we would patch each other in the Spirit Realm by now." He commended her effort in retribution.

Suddenly a bag of emotion falling like a brick.

"I nearly lost you guys today… all of you," he said morosely.

"That's exactly what I thought when you did that Wuxi finger-hold on yourself," her voice grinding hoarsely, almost mirroring his sentiment, "...but, do we have any other choices?" she exasperated while putting her garment back on as soon as he was done.

He brooded in distant silence for a momentary respite. That recurring nightmare of Tigress pushing him from the firing line, witnessing her broken and helpless, floating wearily on that forsaken plank of wood, still sometimes haunting him in his dreams. Despite her nerves of steel, soul of platinum, Po knew even steel and platinum would eventually bend under intense fire, and she was still mortal being after all. The agonizing look of her face while clutching Lei Lei was still fresh in his mind, never in his worst nightmare, he imagined to be living for the same moment again.

For Tigress, seeing him sacrificing himself to take away the devious villain from hurting his family, his loved ones would be her worst possible nightmare. She was just there, watch helplessly… in despair and fear.

Yes...they might have acted impulsively, carelessly without a second thought of consequences. But Tigress couldn't bear to see Shen's pursuit of killing him twice, neither could Po see Kai's undertaking to hurt her twice. However irrational, illogical, and reckless those decisions were….it was clear both of them had selflessly sacrificed themselves out of love and concern for the other.

After Po was done dealing with her, Tigress quietly started to dress his wounds. They sat in comfortable silence until Tigress opened up her voice with a lighter topic in mind.

"So, what did you do before I came?"

"Mmm…." the panda pondered,"...mainly my panda dad taught me how to live in perfect harmony with the universe as a panda."

Tigress snickered, almost had an inkling the direction of the training under Li Shan's tutelage, especially after she saw Po's unorthodox approach teaching martial arts to the pandas. "I bet that involved food larger than the size of dew on the gingko leaf," she teased.

Po laughed,"In fact, those little pandas taught me to eat with my full potential… not a dumpling at a time. And tomorrow I'll ask them to make you _snacklace_. Some form of an edible necklace. It's totally cool." Tigress smiled hearing a piece of enthusiasm had returned into his voice.

"And I'll teach you to climb that hill in a single leap, using the hammock."

"I bet I'll be good at that. I am much lighter than you."

"We'll see tomorrow," he challenged."...and next, you can try to beat me rolling down the hill. It's convenient, but it's harder than it looks because you can't see the direction you are going," he stated his dilemma.

"Well, I am not going to roll down the hill…" She replied, antagonizing his demand.

"But it's so much fun, Tigress!" The panda whined, berating his friend's lack of playfulness. Tigress mentally laughed at his hypocritical remark, because she overheard Li Shan and other pandas commenting that Po puked his entire dinner after a few futile pursuits to master the move. But well, Po had been living as a sole panda for the whole of his life, it was no wonder living a proper panda life was an entirely novel concept to him.

"You want me to break more of my ribs do you?" she reprimanded, a playful grin displayed on her face.

"Oh yeah, you are right." He piped in absently.

Suddenly, the playfulness in her face evaporated, and she went gravely silent as she nursed his injury around his torso. She traced the silver, callous thick skin surrounding his belly, a clear testament of what nearly took his life. Po could only be thankful. His thick pelt hid the variation of the awkward pattern on his skin very well, even his panda dad never quite noticed it. He couldn't imagine having to explain to him that the same demented peacock that nearly obliterated their kind was a breath close to killing him too.

While physically scar was easily obscured, the emotional scar was harder to deal with. Po noticed her paws began to shiver uncontrollably, and her sunset orbs began to glisten. He immediately impeded her paws from nursing his injuries further.

"Tigress…" he said comfortingly.

She remained silent but willingly followed his movement as he tugged her firmly into him. She fell into his arm, leaving herself cleaving to his huge and strong chest, listening to his heart thudding with a perfect comforting rhythm while curling contentedly with him around her. She nearly lost him today, and he almost lost her today. As both of them comforting each other, Tigress caught a glimpse of two portraiture on the alcove by the bedside.

"Is that… your mom?" she scrupulously inquired, while her bandaged paws quickly resumed their job and finishing up patching Po's torso. The panda smiled, albeit bitterly. Once the job was done, both of them leaned against the wall, and Po handed over the picture of her mother into her paw.

"I wish I knew more about her… remember more about her," his facade dropped together with his voice, and he could feel his chest tightened, and his throat began to narrow with a choke. Suddenly Tigress remembered their visit to that forsaken village. Po openly narrated to Shifu and the rest what had happened after the cannon ball hit him, and the soothsayer was aiding him to confront his terrible past and found inner-peace. But he took no one else except Tigress to that very village where he was orphaned. It involved a lot of tears and broken words to express his sorrow.

"She is going to be very proud of you, Po…. to watch what kind of hero you've grown into."

The panda looked at the tiger as she smiled sincerely. "Without her sacrifice, China won't have her defender… Oogway won't have his successor…. Shifu would never find his peace….your goose father would never have a son….and I would never meet my best friend."

He smiled, undoubtedly he was surrounded by so many friends, but Tigress was one of the very few who truly understood him.

Suddenly, her unbridled laughed erupted breaking the petulant mood.

"Don't tell me you tried to eat this?" she traced the bite mark around one of the edges of the portrait amusingly.

"You know, a panda would do anything for food." A gentle smile crept upon his maw as she handed back the picture to him.

"I didn't know that until I know you," Tigress chuckled softly.

"Right, I think we better rest now." Tigress yawned and rolled onto her side, giving the panda some of the space on the bed. Po kissed the picture gently before placing it back into the alcove next to the solitary candlestick. "Good night, Mom." He whispered, pulling his leg up to join Tigress.

"Wait…the others are going to join us later, right?"

The panda just shrugged,"...I think just two of us tonight." He replied casually. Tigress eyes narrowed with suspicion. She reminisced the meaningful nod Shifu had given the panda before they left to Li's hut, however, knowing her adopted father…. he usually would be very conservative with this kind of thing.

"Po… how did you managed to do _this_?" She questioned, a heap of annoyance in her voice.

" _What_?" He said innocently.

"Asking Shifu's permission to let us share a bedroom… just us."

"I have my ways," he joked playfully, but Tigress was not buying it.

"Po! Tell me!" She hissed under her breath, pulling the blanket the panda used to obstruct her grilling stare. The panda's playful grin quickly dissolved into a nervous grimace. He quickly rebuked himself for even asking Shifu for such privilege which now had turned into a living nightmare.

"You'll figure out soon enough," his unsatisfying explanation only vexed the tiger further.

"I won't let you sleep until you tell me," Tigress asserted her predatory interrogation method and aggressively pushed the panda with her unnatural strength, tossing him right to the floor. Subsequently, she pounced him (albeit carefully, they are both injured) and pinned him down to the floor. The panda just expelled an explosive sigh, acknowledging the tiger's inevitable victory.

"Fine fine… I promised to take him to see Master Oogway….. _once_." He groaned, mentally berating why Tigress's perseverant personality could be insufferable sometimes.

"That's it?" She released her grip. Eyes still danced in disbelief.

"Yes… well, aren't you happy spending a little time with me?" He crept slowly back onto the bed. She looked at him, face etched with a fantastically peculiar mix of surprise on his forwardness and irritation on his childish behavior.

She fell quiet on his question."You are making use of your power, Po," she argued. Nevermind if she was happy to spend time with him, but making use his power in an exchange with some personal desire…..well, unethical.

"Anything wrong with that? I am just giving him a favor." He contended his own rationale.

"Look, I haven't talked to you for the entire week! The only thing close to 'talking' was that minor _repartee_ we exchanged when your foot was on my cheek just to proof I need to be a master of chi to defeat Kai." She staggered back slightly on his offended tone.

Almost dictated by his unusual show of aggression, Tigress quickly realized, Po wanted to have some alone time with her. He was mentally drained from the battle and needing some of her support.

"I-I am sorry Po," she apologized, lying down on her side, on the bed, next to him in her attempt to clear the uncouth atmosphere between them.

"Let's hope we have no nightmare of losing anyone tonight." He muttered as he sprawled his arm for Tigress head to rest in. She picked up an uncharacteristic rasp in his voice, and his usually calm, jovial features which were sharpening into a despondent frown.

Tigress furrowed her brows slightly as she rested her head atop of his arms, it was indeed a terrible cliche, even when the thought of losing him and her family was deeply tormenting her more than she cared to admit, but for heaven's sake… they were warriors, and facing death was their rice and noodles (as opposed to bread and butter).

"Po… I could never promise to be with you all the way. But as long as I lived, I would be the sharpest blade in your hand, your impregnable armor in battle, to fight alongside you…. in triumphant victory or crumbling defeat."

He felt his eyes warmed up hearing her pledge of adherence. He leaned forward, requited her devotion with a gentle kiss on her forehead. The tiger generously consented his offer and accepted his gift shyly.

"Goodnight Tigress." He whispered.

She responded in kind, just a touch louder. "Goodnight Dragon Warrior."

Po girded her tired form closer, not wanting any distance between them. Not here, not now, not ever. He mused over this day, and many other behind it. What had happened, what was now, and what was to be. He gazed at the glimpse of his heroine next to him, both of them battered, exhausted and sore. But she smiled at him as the string of nostalgia settled back in his face.

When he saw her, he fell in love. She smiled because she knew.

Then he realized, both of them did have nightmares…. but mostly… they had been living their dreams.

* * *

The words from Tigress was inspired from the Chinese melodrama "the Empress" (Empress Wu Zetian)

When he saw her, he fell in love. She smiled because she knew. - Shakespeare


	2. Secret Crush

Missing scene from after KFP1 (after Po and Tigress made friends). This is my experimental write semi-conversational style (inserting a lot of mental note). If this one received a good response, I am planning to expand and make Tigress' version of 'secret crush'. Tell me what do you think?

KFP owned by Dreamworks.

* * *

SECRET CRUSH

You don't love a woman because she is beautiful. She is beautiful because you love her.

* * *

 _Secret #1: I think about you a little more than I should._

"Oh my gosh...oh my gosh…..oh my gosh, here she comes!" Po paced up and down the cramped kitchen frantically on the sighting of an orange silhouette in the distance. His bulky figure clumsily knocked down some pans and cutleries, even nearly bulldozed his father flat on the floor. Well, Mr. Ping's kitchen wasn't that small… for a goose, but for a giant panda that four times taller and more than ten times bigger than him (not to mention he bounced his weight mindlessly), his kitchen felt microscopic in comparison.

"Calm down, Son! Tigress is your friend now, you know." Mr. Ping snickered at his son's antics. It was funny to see how Po visibly flushed and flustered when his idol emerged by the restaurant archway. The goose swore he even heard the panda's heart pounding like a gong against his ribcage… Ok maybe that was an exaggeration for the lack of metaphor, but you get what he meant.

 _Secret #2: I smiled at every mention of your name._

Po smiled absently, witnessing the tiger was helping Mrs. Chu―the seamstress, to mend the wheel of her cart. She knelt down, skillfully pulled out the wheel, employing her unnatural strength and her quick thinking, and subsequently the wagon was moving again in no time. Po heard Jiang, Mrs. Chu three-year-old son, screamed in delight as he thanked Tigress and gave her a warm embrace.

After bidding goodbye to the pigs, the tiger turned her attention to the establishment―feeling two pairs of eyes meticulously studied her from a distance. She met the smug gaze of an elderly goose, and nervous yet beguiled glance of a panda. She generously smiled back in return.

Po felt his heart stopped.

His eyes wide opened, fixated absently on the dazzling cat that at the moment smiling sweetly at him, causing his mental thrown into complete disarray.

 _Secret #3: Do you know why I love your smile? Because it tells me a lot of things that I love about you._

"Master Tigress is quite something isn't it son?" Mr. Ping elbowed his deeply enamored son with his wing to bring him back from his mindless fantasy.

"Yeah, Dad..." the smitten panda replied offhandedly. "You should see her in the training hall. Maaannn… She was awesome! Can't believe all she ate is tofu. I mean, how can tofu beat those spiky wooden swaying gizmo?"

 _Secret #4: I stare at you when you are not looking…. Especially in the training hall._

"I am sooo... lucky to be able to spend 24-hour with her. I mean… who wanna hang around round panda like me, right?" His enthusiastic tune immediately dwindled into despondency.

 _Secret #5: Do you know that you mean to me more than you ever know? But I am getting used to the fact I won't ever be good enough._

"Well, you are bodacious as well Po, you can practically make anyone disappear just by flicking your pinky!"

"Yeah right!" Po responded sinisterly.

 _Secret #6: You know why people called it a secret 'crush'? Because... that how I feel when I know you won't ever feel the same about me._

"Po, you are kind and wonderful young man… what make you think you are undeserving to be her friend?" His father encouraged him. "But that's a shame, though… kung fu isn't something a man want in a woman, definitely not a wife," the old goose pretended to shake his head dolefully and risking to steal a glance at his son.

"Dad! How you could even say that?"

 _Secret #7: Heck, I never thought I like you this much, neither did I plan to have you in my mind this often._

"Well, it's true! Don't you wonder why no one was courting her despite all her looks and…. _awesomeness_?" The old goose chortled while mimicking Po's mannerism, and waiting until the panda took his bait.

 _Secret #8: And yes, I know you are no frill, no-nonsense kind of girl who never gives a second thought on the outward appearance, but that what had made you attractive. I wonder if I ate tofu would I be as appealing as you?_

"Well, if there is any man that thinks she is not worth a mate… then it's their loss!" Po's voice getting sharper and louder. "She is beautiful, strong, kind, graceful...gorgeous…"

 _Secret #9: It's so hard to be friends with someone this special when every time I look at you, all I see is everything I want to have._

"...and cute." Mr. Ping added, smiling victoriously as his son had fallen into his trap."Why not we invited her for lunch, I am sure Shifu ruthless regiment had worked her appetite."

"What? B-but, no… No! Dad, y-you can't―"

But it was too late…. the goose dismissed his son unwarranted objection and took the liberty to invite the tiger over. He waved his wings, and before Po knew it, the goddess incarnate was standing in front of him.

 _Secret #10: Hell, my Dad was right…. you are cute._

"Ah… Master Tigress… what an honor to have you dine with us." Mr. Ping bowed courteously.

"Mr. Ping just called me Tigress… Po is my friend. There is no need for formality." She answered solemnly and darting her attention to the panda in front of her who was still unwittingly charmed and smiled dreamily at his hero.

 _Secret #11: Today, you smiled at me…. And I died._

If she did anything more, Po was positive the blood vessel in his brain would explode.

"My dear, gallantry is not things of the past …..I had to remember you are Grand Master's daughter and lived in…ah... _a_ _palace_." Ceremoniously, the goose invited the tiger to sit down and offered her the special of the day, which she gladly received.

"So… Master Tigress... aren't you seeing someone? I mean…ah... such a fair maiden, resourceful and intellectual as yourself, I am sure there are many suitors whom knocking at Grand Master's door." The goose questioned, while next to him Po was twiddling his thumbs, holding his breath and squirmed nervously at his seat.

 _Secret #12: You are not the only girl in the universe, but you are the only one that matters._

"No, Mr. Ping, my father let me choose who I like to be with… He hardly meddles with my personal life." Po nearly collapsed from his chair with an expression of relief cascaded his feature."...but I guess as Kung Fu Master, my chance of finding love practically depleted to none. I've resigned myself to live without any companionship." She said again.

 _Secret #13: You may not be the most feminine, dainty and demure female on earth. But still, every time you looked at me, my heart dropped to my feet._

Suddenly Po's fleshy fist impaled the table. Everyone jolted back in immense surprise on his reaction.

"Tigress…. That is complete _nonsense_! You are too amazing to waste your time on men who couldn't appreciate you!" A potent rage scorching in his usual tranquil eyes.

 _Secret #14: It kills me to imagine you with anybody else, but I like you too much that I can't hate you for hurting me._

"They are a complete idiot if they couldn't see what you could offer." She was taken aback. Po was such a kind soul that he was willing to stand up for her, even after all the nasty words she threw at him a month ago.

He immediately realized his ludicrous outburst and sat down awkwardly. Tigress was quick to read the situation and offer her gratitude.

"Thank you Po…. " A genuine smile tugged her maw, and a sudden gush of warmness balm her soul. "That means a lot to me."

 _Secret #15: Oh? Really? Oh geez… that smile again…! How I wished I could just ask you what you really think of me._

For a moment, Po sat there gaping like a complete idiot. Maybe there was something strange about her smile that made him completely captivated.

 _Secret #16:….and honestly, I don't know why I like you. But I just do._

"My pleasure Tigress," he said after regained his composure.

 _Secret #17: Tigress, I wanted to tell you all my secret, unfortunately, you have become one of them._

"Besides, that's what a friend are for," his reply earned him yet another spread of her wonderful smile. _He is incredibly kind. He does not just see me as a comrade or teammates…. He sees me as a person, more so as a friend._

 _Secret #18: Yes, we are a friend now Tigress. But I'll wait for you for as long as it takes, because honestly, I don't want anyone else._


	3. Life Goal

This prompt actually came from either tumblr or FF site, but I couldn't exactly remember who and what was the title. So pardon for my lack of credit towards the source.

Scene: a few weeks after Tai Lung's defeat.

* * *

When you have a specific goal in your life, a specific target that you want earnestly, then it would become easy. When I say _easy_ means attainable and possible, not exactly 'easy' as you imagined it. Your goal would become your life purpose, your drive that propelled you to pick yourself up again every time you fall. I used to tell myself that failure was just a delayed success, and the real failure was not a person who failed, but who stopped trying.

But what if someone else took that goal from your life? When you don't know what you want, things became complicatedly hard. And that's me.

Everyone knew my ultimate ambition to be the Dragon Warrior.

The fervor to prove myself worthy to bear the dignitary had turned my life into a huge training session. Unfortunately for me, that purpose was decimated after a panda, with all his lacking in both physical and mental aspect, robbed me from my destiny.

In a moment of disappointment, resentment, and confusion―a realization climbed out like a specter. And I finally discovered, there are more to life outside Kung Fu.

Things like… friendship.

I had never interested on this subject. It's not like I don't have friends, I have the Five. But our friendship was superficial, based on necessity and out of convenience. We frequently leave the conversation at a professional level. I never keen to know or meddle with their personal problem. I am always a solitary kind of girl. I only exposed so much to the unsuspecting eyes and hid the truth underneath. For most of the time, I was contented with the way I run my life. Until I tasted the real sweetness of friendship from the most unlikely creature I knew.

I began to open myself up, removing my steely facade. I stopped feeling that I had to prove myself to others all the time. I started to accept that I wasn't perfect, and never will be, but I don't need to be flawless to be accepted and loved.

I knew I was dumb to miss such a life lesson in decades of my life. I was blinded by my selfish ambition. Po may have stolen my dream, my aim, and my goal. But he had replaced it with a new one and giving my life a purpose, that far more noble and a lot more priceless than earning a Dragon Warrior title.

* * *

"Panda! Get your stance ready!" I heard Shifu barked imperiously at his latest recruit over his sloppy footing. It's been two months since my estranged brother defeat, and the atmosphere of Shifu ruthless training regime had settled into its usual routine.

"Tigress will be your opponent," he announced, "and watch your own to―" before Shifu finished his sentence, the giant panda had managed to step on his toes and landed himself in the middle of the training hall mortal contraption, just like he did on his first day. Luckily, this time around, he quickly recovered and got out of the entire fire breathing, spiky, swaying equipment relatively unscathed.

"Ow, maaaan," he moaned. He pulled himself, sluggishly plodding on his belly.

And as he crawled next to me, he found something white and small next to the adversary. Upon closer inspection, we realized it was his beloved tooth that he lost during his first spar with the dummy to attain level-0.

I saw Crane politely tried to clamp his beak (which ended up rattling like a boiling pot), Mantis and Monkey attempted to bite down his laugh―grinning like a mindless lunatic, while Viper already lost it and giggled uncontrollably. Shifu was the only one who displayed a phlegmatic fortitude, but again, he was a paragon of self-restraint and forbearance. Wait… I did too. I just threw an insipid glance at him.

The giant panda didn't mind a single bit on his comrades erupting laughter. There was no evidence of bitterness in his eyes. In fact, he rather treated it as a medal for his endless charm towards bringing mirthful atmosphere in the otherwise vapid training hall.

"Panda, get up," Shifu commanded, not unkindly, and gave him a chance to the panda to compose himself.

I stood, prying my opponent with my menacing eyes, trying to put down his mental battle before the onslaught ensued. I could see he gulped in both nervousness and giddiness. Maybe the prospect of sudden death in a hand of his childhood hero made it less…. agonizing (for the lack of better word).

"Begin."

A small predatory grin spread across my maw, as I pounced the hapless panda. We exchanged blows and punches for a mere five minutes before I saw an opening. I landed a precise spin kick across his face. I know that he was aware that it was coming. I even registered a flash glance of admiration on my expeditious, perfect, accurate form, but why on earth he was closing his eyes instead of trying to dodge my leg? Did he think my leg would vanish should he not see it? I had no idea! Definetely not the sort of muscle reflex one could hope coming from a Kung Fu Master.

My powerful thrust sent him hurling right towards the weapon rack.

"Po!" Everyone hurried to see how bad he was injured. I didn't hit him with all of my strength, but considering where my kick had landed―square in his face, it would be still hurtful nonetheless. I saw his eyelids dropped like a curtain being drawn, his tongue lolling to the side, and his figure limped in an ungraceful manner.

"Viper, Crane… fetch the medical kit." Shifu commanded. But before long, the panda spirit had returned into his body.

"He is awake," I said. It was hardly a question, nor a statement, just an announcement in my usual dry tones. Mantis ventured into his room, came back with an acupuncture chart to examine Po.

"Nothin' serious Big Guy, just a little shock from such an awesome blow," the insect ribbed, grinning smugly. The rest soon left after they attended Po's innocuous injury, while I was still looking at the morose panda, with my paws sitting on my hips.

"That's so stupid of you for not blocking my kick." I berated blatantly, "...you were lucky I didn't use my full strength."

He sat there in mute appeal. His frivolous, signature grin quickly evaporated into a disappointed frown. I heard him sighed.

"You never gonna like me, do you?"

That's true, admittedly, even after him proving himself worthy of the honorific title, I still hardly treated him like a friend. However, all my prior disgust, hatred, and resentment had dwindled astoundingly, after I reasoned with myself that the panda had never planned to steal the title from me in the first place. Nonetheless, I still found his supernatural clumsiness and boorish habits hard to tolerate.

Then I remembered, how I treated him like a slime, a loser. With the hope that he would eventually break and leave. I witnessed how he hero-worshipped me, the enraptured gaze he bestowed, the myriad of posters in his room, the doll…. even chunk of rubble that I kicked! I was even cruel enough to use all those against him, to make his departure more expedient. But it never did, he said the true warrior never quits!

At the moment, I am glad he didn't.

"I mean―right, you call me 'Master' and all that… but you never smile at me. You even call me, Dragon Warrior or panda most of the time."

"Tell me, why you hate me?" He riveted his green eyes on me, probing for the truth.

I tore my gaze from him before explicating. "My entire life had been a huge training session." I told him, "So I was _a little_ disappointed when you were chosen the Dragon Warrior... and thus, I did you wrong to resent you when you first came. But, now, I do not hate you. I don't know where you get that idea from." Of course, I glossed the sentence from the truth to say 'a little,' when I am despicably gutted.

"Really?" He ventured, voice entirely unconvinced, "you don't _hate_ me?"

"Well, perhaps a _little_."

The panda laughed rather sarcastically. "Geez, Tigress… I pity the guy that you hate _a lot_!"

"I respect you!" I nearly roared, he squirmed in his seat looking at my perfectly piqued face. Swiftly, I gained my usual composure, "...sorry," I cleared my throat, "I thought you want me to respect you, that's why I called you _Master_ and address you with your title."

"So you called all this… treatment, coldness, and the distance between us as…. _respect_?" He asked prudently, fearing to ignite my ongoing snit further and tasting my angry retribution.

"Excuse me, Dragon Warrior. Being warm, fuzzy wuzzy, huggy and cuddly is not my natural propensity," I scowled at him.

He mused for a moment, and a big innocent grin spread from side to side.

"I never want your respect, Tigress. I want to… be able to train with you, talk to you, eat with you… and to be….. your _friend_."

"My friend?" I asked, completely stupefied.

"Yes, I am Po Ping. Your friend―not the Dragon Warrior."

And he extended his paw. That for a start.

"Deal?" He winked playfully, still tugging the lopsided grin on his maw. I hesitated. Part of me couldn't believe, after all the mean things I said to him, he wanted nothing but friendship? Either he was a moron, or downright lunatic.

"Tigress?" His words snapped me back from my reverie. His extended paw still waiting for my answer. "Something wrong?" he raised his brows.

"No ―no. It's just. No one ever asked me to be their friend."

"Let me be the first." He smiled goofily.

I suppose I could try. I mused and extended my paw, mirroring his.

And since that day, my training and my life became that bit sweeter.


	4. Perspective

Dedicated to KFP FRIENDS competition winner Cookie M 2012. Hope you'll like this. For the rest of you: Happy New Year 2017, and may this piece of 'wisdom' helped you to see the year 2016 in the right perspective.

KFP owned by Dreamworks.

* * *

 _Inner Peace..._

Shifu was sitting in solemn meditation inside his chamber. He was on a solo mission in Gongmen, attending the crucial political meeting of the Kung Fu Council to assist them revising their code of conduct. Not only that, he would be supervising a few new appointed Masters for the next six month. He had entrusted the business of running the Jade Palace and protecting the citizen of the valley in the capable paws of Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five.

 _Inner Peace..._

 _Ah, there is nothing to worry about._ He mused. All his students had really grown into their respective role these past few years. Yes, _all…_. Including one hopeless, pathetic oaf who Shifu skeptically thought couldn't even defeat the training doll.

 _Inner Peace..._

Perhaps Shifu had gone insane to leave Jade Palace under Dragon Warrior's supervision, and even his mind couldn't quite believe that yet. _No, Tigress would decapitate him if he screwed up._ He smiled as the depiction of his adopted daughter beating the sense out of the hapless panda transpired in his mind, and his pain strangely consoled.

 _Uh, no, no…. I am sure Po would do fine_. Shifu hastily expelled that morbid thought away from his head.

Po had promised to give him a regular update every month, but to Shifu's dismay, the klutzy giant panda seemed to be completely absent-minded about his pledge.

For the longest time, Shifu had never regarded Po's appellative as the Dragon Warrior, the Mighty Defender of China. In his life, he met too many people holding empty dignitary, such as Wolf-Boss, who clearly wasn't the boss at all. It was soon to change when the giant panda had proven himself again in vanquishing the evil Spirit Warrior, Kai, the enemy whom even Oogway himself would struggle to defeat. But again, most of the time, Po was his silly, spunky old self.

 _Oh well, probably no news was good news. Anyway..._ _Inner Peace..._

 _Inner...Inner Peace..._

Suddenly, Shifu heard flapping sound of wings. It was Jing, the fastest, most reliable goose messenger since Zheng retired from relaying messages.

"Grand Master, a message for you," the goose bend down reverently, handing a scroll with familiar looking seal. It was from the Jade Palace. _Finally, that stupid oaf remembered!_ Shifu snorted sarcastically, while his skinny hands unraveled the scroll in a hurry.

* * *

Dear Master Shifu,

I am sorry it took time for me to write back to you. There was a lot of things happened here that prevent me from doing so earlier.

Oh yes, by the way, how is your stay in Gongmen so far? Did you enjoy the food? The company? Er… I know you are not a great fan of any form delicacies nor interested in friendly social interaction, but hey…if you gonna stay there for six months, you better learn to like it! I heard about the famous spicy noodle in the west aisle by Gongmen Jail. You should totally check it out and perhaps tell me if they are any good.

Ok, sorry. I digress.

Let see what should I update.

Oh yes, about what had happened here. First, let me tell you that I had a _little_ accident.

One night the blustering winds lifted some parts of the Jade Palace's roof, right on the top of Hall of Heroes. I bet you know how much I treasure those magnificent artifact right? I'll be willing to guard them with my life!

So, the next day, since the usual handyman refused to come in bad weather, despite the cold, icy rain, I climbed to fix it.

Don't worry. You can thank me later.

Anyway, I successfully mended that vicious leak before it caused costly damaged on the precious treasure down below. However, in a split moment lapse of grace (and of course, my epic clumsiness is nothing to be brag about), I fell―slammed my head on the concrete, twisted my neck and crushed my ankle on the process.

Thankfully Tigress was within proximity to resuscitate me from unconsciousness. I swore I had seen Spirit Realm somewhere in my trance.

Later on, even after being resurrected from my demise, the injury had rendered me almost completely paralyzed and forced me to stay in bed for a few days. Trust me; it's nothing serious, apart from―broken ribs, fractured ankle, sprained neck muscle, and a slight concussion that made my head hurts for a few hours every morning―other than that, I am good.

Coincidentally with my misfortune, there was an urgent request for aiding the villagers in the Musician Village after a group of bandit burnt down their village hall. The Furious Five, except for Tigress, left the day after to assist the reconstruction.

The following week, Tigress had to do everything for me since I couldn't walk, couldn't turn my neck, and my stubborn headache made me unable to do any task, even the petty ones like cooking or going to the toilet. I know, very gross right? Don't worry; I told Tigress to close her eyes while I am not decent.

One night, I was completely in pain―my head was throbbing and my ankle felt like being squashed by an elephant. Unfortunately, the village healer was occupied helping to deliver a baby. Thinking on her feet, Tigress plundered your bedroom to find some strong alcohol to ease my pain. Don't you worry Shifu, she didn't touch those exquisite ones you told me were presents from the Emperor.

Anyway, she picked one that had an exotic looking bottle, a shape of a naked cow―which she recalled was a freebie from the milk-drinking competition. Surely you won't mind her taking that. So, she took it to my bedroom and told me to drink it.

Soon my pain dissolved in exchange of a warm, surreal kind of feeling. Considering it was a freebie, the taste was exceptionally good! Even Tigress couldn't resist trying. But it all went rather wild after that. I swore I didn't know that she never drunk strong drink before, which explained her low tolerance.

In her inebriated state, she made a bold confession of telling her feeling for me. It was the best experience in the world. I kissed her, and she kissed me back with equal passion. At some point, she asked me to sleep with her. I mean… how could I refuse such a tempting offer? So, there you go. I save you the crude detail I am sure you are not interested about.

Everything returned to normal the day after, as if nothing had happened. Well, almost.

During the intense, intimate encounter the night before, we accidentally damaged my bedroom door. I was about to sleep in the Hall of Heroes, but Tigress insisted the marble floor was waaaaay too cold. So, meanwhile, she generously offered me to sleep in her bedroom (and I am not implying anything!).

Gradually, my wounds healed just leaving a slight scarring and my headache only happened occasionally. But I began to contemplate about Tigress's revelation to me. Truthfully, I was madly in love with her.

One night, I confronted her. She told me her feeling was true and genuine. She had fallen for me ever since our mission to save Kung Fu, but never found the courage to admit. She was happy, and so was I. We were both were delighted and without a second thought, she accepted my proposal to marry her. Thanks to your cheap yet extraordinary alcohol.

That's right, you heard us. We are getting married! That must be the most splendidly awesome and bodacious day in my life!

Well, hopefully... we could get your blessing before her bump began to show. Yes, I appreciate your skepticism when you told her it's impossible for a panda and a tiger to conceive a child, you will see the tangible proof when you come home. I won't be reluctant to admit that the child was mine.

I know you are squealing a happy cheer as you read those line, don't deny it Shifu. We can hear you from here. From the longest time, I always suspected that you have a soft spot for little tiger and baby panda, how about getting the best of both, hmmm? Isn't that sound like an excellent deal? Even my goose dad couldn't hold his excitement. He had invited the whole village to dine in the Hall of Heroes to celebrate. Yes, he had used the Hall as the restaurant, again! Initially, I suggested the Training Hall, but Tigress said it was far too dangerous for children. Don't worry. No one broke anything… well, except the Urn of Whispering Warrior. But Zheng told me he could fix it no problem.

So, where were we. Ah yes, Tigress' pregnancy.

During her first ante-natal check-up, the healer suspected our baby had a strange blood disorder that Tigress carelessly caught from her previous boyfriend (Don't blame me, such blood disorder doesn't exist in pandas). Mind you, there was hardly any comfortable protection in 13th Century Ancient China, so don't be too hard on her.

The healer said nothing much we could do until the course of the full pregnancy elapsed, and the baby is born, only then we could decide the fate of this baby. This, undoubtedly, would be a nail-biting wait.

Now, I have given you all the necessary update―I want to tell you that: there was no broken roof, no concussion, no broken urn, no one night stand, no wedding, no pregnancy, and nope... Tigress and I never hooked up (not yet anyway), and she didn't sleep around with anyone (including me!).

However, I accidentally set the Training Hall on fire during the demonstration while the Emperor was visiting us. He said he was _a little_ disappointed to see the performance of China most notable warriors and may want to have a _friendly_ word with you when you return.

There you go, I just wanted you to see this calamitous mistake in the right perspective.

Have a happy new year.

Po.

* * *

Do you remember the epic mayhem Po created the first time he taught the Five in KFP3? I imagine this short fic happened right after the ending of KFP3 when they had settled back to normality. Hopefully, we could see all our past mistake, bad fortune, and all not-so-good thing in 2016 in the right perspective after reading this piece. Once again, happy new year to my reader, and congratulation to Cookie M 2012!


	5. I Love You

This is a prompt following a picture illustrated by peace-on in Tumblr, and of course since it is Valentine's day, I can't resist to do a little snippet, a really short one, to depict the love between my favourite OTP!

* * *

"I love you." His voice was warm, full of content and hopeful, all at once.

The words had fallen from his lips before, but in low whispers when she limped against his comfy shoulder, quietly snored as they cuddle up under the Sacred Peach Tree.

 _I love you…._

Other times they'd fallen was when he saw her in the distance, when he risked stealing a glance during the training, among the galloping breaths and battle cries, and he simply couldn't fathom a simple life happiness she had brought him.

 _I love you…._

Or when he pulled her to join the dance and she glanced away long enough, the music was loud enough to drown his voice so the words he said safely drifted away.

The words had fallen in hush breaths, between thundering heartbeats and shivering lips… but this?

There was no quiet whispers, no sleepy confession, no hushed voice…. no hesitation. It was never easy to say it, but he did. Because he didn't want Tigress to remember him as a distant hero, China's mighty Saviour, he was merely Po Ping.

He never wanted to be _perfect_ … he wanted to be _real_.

He'd been embarrassed if it dawned upon him when her eyes widened, cheek bloomed and then she answered him with a kiss. A long, lingering, warm kiss.

She was brave, unyielding, high-spirited, courageous… and clearly, she was the sun in his sky.

She chuckled, both contented and mischievous. "I know," her large paws twined, squeezing his, strong yet gentle. After the distraction of her touches subsided, the words finally registered.

"Wait, what did you say?" Po was sure his eyes couldn't get any bigger."You knew? But? How -?"

"Do you honestly think I really fell asleep when you said it? And how could I miss something that important?" she smiled.

And that pleasant, elating feeling wrapped him when he saw the familiar curve of her smile.

"I love you Big Dope," she laughed, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Huh? Really?" Po replied dumbly. And Po couldn't help it. He couldn't help to smile at her euphoric laughter, to admire at her unbridled boldness, to fell in love with her never ending charm.

She never answered him with a word, because she much rather did it with a kiss.


	6. Lilies

Tigress had been experiencing unexplainable fatigue for the past two weeks. She couldn't even run the full course in the Training Hall, which was very unlike her, and this got Shifu worried. Despite her disagreement that she just needed a bit of rest, he called the healer.

"Your daughter suffered from too-much-work syndrome," the healer, Mr. Jing, explained. "It is very common among high achievers and those who work very hard to experience this. Symptoms can include insomnia, lack of appetite, negativity, isolative and self-punishing inclination."

"Is that really such... disease? Sound like laziness to me," Tigress muttered.

Shifu tapped his chin, thinking deeply. He was as skeptical as Tigress. However, Tigress' symptoms are quite symmetrical with what Mr. Jing expounded. Because her difficulty to fall asleep, Tigress had been reading twice as many scrolls as the rest of the Five combined, she had only been eating tofu, and for every minuscule mistake she made during training, she punished herself by training harder during lunch break and weekends. And for a fifteen-year-old girl, she was incredibly reclusive, preferring to spend her free time in her bedroom or training hall.

It was borderline _abnormal_.

No. It _was_ abnormal.

"Is there any cure for this... disease?" Shifu prompted, ignoring Tigress who grumbled disapprovingly next to him.

"Thankfully this condition is easily treatable," Mr. Jing said positively. "She should participate in non-Kung-Fu related activity. Such diversion will hopefully break the habit and cure the syndrome in no time."

"But...-"

"There is no but, Tigress," Shifu cut her in. "As much as I love a hardworking student like you, I hate to see you waste yourself. I know you love Kung Fu and have devoted your entire life to the art, but you must learn to get the balance."

Tigress swallowed her protest and groaned. "So, what you suggest here, Master?"

"I have an idea," he said mysteriously. "Follow me."

* * *

Po had been working in his dad restaurant as soon as he could walk. He was well known among the neighbors and the community (let say because he often distributed coupons and free samples of his father's latest culinary experiment.) But above all, everyone liked him because he was friendly and pleasant to just about anyone.

One day, Mrs. Xia, one of the restaurant regulars told him about Mrs. Ching's new assistant.

"She is very pretty," the rabbit gushed, waggling her bushy brows teasingly. "I know Shifu has a daughter, but I didn't expect her to look...remotely different from him."

Po knew Mrs. Xia was referring to both Shifu's physical attributes and personality. The old red panda could be crotchety at times, especially when he had to wait for his food longer than usual.

Three days had passed and Po hadn't really had any reason to step foot into Mrs. Ching's flower shop. He wasn't seeing anyone, and so didn't really need to buy any flowers. Add a stressful job and slave driver father into the mix, and it turned into something he kept meaning to do but never got around to. (Ok... this was just an excuse!)

He'd seen her around when Shifu took her to the village market - auburn fur with dark stripes, slender waist, long legs, walking with graceful gait that made his mouth water.

She was always dressed pragmatically, a pair of plain trousers and simple sleeveless top that exposed her toned arms and enhanced the length of her legs. And despite the inviting facade with big 'welcome' plastered on the front of the shop, despite the scent of cherry blossom carrying up through the street-facing window in the humidity of the late June evenings, despite Tigress sounded like someone he really, really wanted to get to know, he kept putting it off.

Po told his neighbor's boy, Jun, it was because he was busy. Jun said it was because he was an idiot (or Po didn't have a set of good working eyes).

Fine.

But part of him didn't want to be an idiot, so he accepted when Jun placed a bet of a massive bowl of dumpling that he would not dare to step into the flower shop. It was the challenge that had brought Po to finally step foot into "The Lucky Bunch" for the first time.

The shop was small but cozy. There really wasn't any other word for it. Painted tin buckets hanging in rows lined one wall, filled with flowers of every kind, organized by color. Pre-arranged bouquets were displayed on artfully stacked wooden crates in the center, and on the opposite wall were potted plants and flowers, extra pots, decorative garden pieces and vases.

The bell on the door tinkled as he walked in, and when the door shut, the cool, damp air surrounded him and the noise from outside disappeared, throwing him into a completely different world.

Suddenly, his nose began to itch.

"Can I help you?" said a velvety voice. Po rubbed his nose profusely to abate the surge of mounting pressure from his lung. Tigress poised in front of him, wearing a silk qipao. Po had never seen her in anything but training outfit. But the change was definitely welcome. She looked adorable in them.

"I, uh..." He cleared his throat. "Hi, I'm Po Ping," he bowed politely and she returned the gesture.

"I know who you are," Tigress responded, smiling. He had never seen her smile. If it weren't genuine, she did a great job faking it. "There are not that many large mammals in the valley."

 _Yes, reasonable._

"Right, of course, you do. I mean, I – uh… I live around the corner, in the noodle shop," he blurted. "Not that... not that I want to tell you where I live but...-"

Tigress nodded, her movement and expression were entirely controlled and calm. "Yes, you do. What finally brings you down here?"

Of course, he couldn't say he came here to win a free lunch because that would be bad... and very _unromantic_.

"I was looking for a bouquet," he said, lying through his teeth. Then Po realized she'd probably assume it was for another woman, and for some reason, he really didn't want her to think he was unavailable. "For my mother," he amended. Bigger lie. He didn't even have a mother. Because if he had, he would like to know whether she was a goose or a panda.

"Okay," Tigress said immediately. Po released a breath that he was unconsciously holding and thanking his geese ancestor for not telling Tigress he didn't come from an egg. "What kind of flowers does she like?"

He didn't even know? Ok, nevermind. Time to improvise.

"Um, red ones? Wait... pink! Yes, pink."

His impromptu answer pulled the edge of her lips. She was smiling broadly and he felt his heart skip a few beats.

"Pink ones?" she asked, eyebrow raised, half amused, half skeptical.

Po felt a sneeze coming on. He held a finger up, turning his head away and catching a glimpse of the sunlight pouring through the front windows. With an explosion of sound, he sneezed, screwing his eyes shut.

"Bless you," she said, still grinning.

"You know what?" he asked. _Sneeze_. "I think these should be just fine," he said, grabbing the first bouquet he could reach on the display behind him. _Sneeze_.

"But those aren't even pi-"

 _Sneeze_.

"No these are great! She'll love them!" _Sneeze_. He pulled out a coin and tossed it on the counter. "Here, keep the change!" _Sneeze_. "Nice to meet you!" _Sneeze_.

He ran out with the sound of the bell and Tigress' smile still tattooed on his brain.

Jun laughed so hard he cried when Po told him about it later on. He gladly paid his due and told Po that he should visit the flower shop again tomorrow. Po refused until Jun graciously placed another dumpling bet on the table.

This time, he took a laundry peg to pinch his nose, and he perused the loose flowers, looking at the ones he knew for a fact weren't in the last bouquet, thinking perhaps he was allergic to one of them.

"More flowers for your mother?" Tigress said as a means of greeting. He whirled around and he could see her lips twitched when she saw the peg perched on his nose. He took it away swiftly and said, "No, this one's for my dentist…" he trailed off at the end. "Yes, my dentist... Mr...Mr. Wen," he made up.

 _What the hell._

The tiger folded her lips together. It was so very clear she was trying not to laugh. "The only Mr. Wen I know is a vegetable seller."

 _Hell, why she has to be freaking clever and observant?_

"Oh, he sells bamboo too. I love bamboo. I mean, all panda love bamboo. Wait, is bamboo a type of vegetable?" _For goodness sake, stop saying bamboo_. "And he sometimes offers to check my teeth."

That was remotely convincing, but... nevermind.

"Okay, sure," she said, decided not to question him further. "What kind of flowers does he like? Also pink ones?" she asked teasingly.

Po cleared his throat. "No, actually. Mr. Wen likes white flowers."

"There is no white one available on the shop floor. They are only available by preorder for funerals. I'm sure you're aware of that?" It was not a question, more like a statement. Tigress snorted softly, and Po was finally forced to shake his head and smile. He reached back to rub his neck, laughing self-deprecatingly.

"I can help you to choose another one if you like," she offered.

 _Great! a good chance to get to know her._

But before Po could voice his approval, a sudden itchy sensation was tickling his nose, followed by a loud explosion. Thankfully he managed to rush out of the shop before the explosive impact of his mega sneeze blowing the entire store layout.

So he was back down there the next day, and the next. Each time with a different request. Po realized soon his visit became less of winning the bet, more to see Tigress in her cute outfit.

"I don't get it," Jun told him, looking around at the now six different bouquets scattered around Po's messy bedroom. The first one had started to wilt but he couldn't bring himself to throw it away. "Why don't you just tell her? And perhaps... ask her out?"

Po didn't answer. He honestly didn't know himself.

On day eleven, he was just getting ready to head downstairs when he heard his dad frantically knocking on his door.

"Dad, what's up? Is there a bandit? A misbehaving customer who refuses to pay?"

Mr. Ping shook his head. After he regulated his breath, he said. "A girl is looking for you. A pretty one, with tight waist and nice muscle."

Oh dang! There was no time for him to get ready. He cursed his luck as he licked his palms and applied them to the fur on his head. "Dad...dad...dad, h-how do I look?"

"You look fine, Son," Mr. Ping replied, grinning broadly. "Now go and invite her for dinner!"

"Daddd..."

Po regretted to even ask.

After mustering his courage, he swinging the kitchen door open.

"Yeah?" he asked, finding Tigress waiting on the other side with a bouquet of lilies.

"Hi."

Po froze for a moment. Then – "Um, hi?"

For the first time since he'd met her, Tigress seemed unsure of herself. She was wearing that qipao again, this time with a slit running on both sides. She was beautiful like her lilies, but she also looked worried.

"I, uh… I figured I'd save you the trouble of coming to the shop today and just come up with a bouquet for your…?"

It took Po a moment to realize what she was asking, but then he couldn't help his smile as he responded, "My assistant."

And there was her sweet smile again. "Your assistant?"

Po nodded. "Yup," he supplied confidently.

Tigress tilted her head. "You don't have an assistant," she said in a stage whisper. "In fact, you are _the_ assistant. Zheng told me after Shifu got despicably ill because your dad wasn't here...and _the_ assistant in charge cooked him the food. Perhaps you forgot to wash your hand?"

The episode from the time he heard Shifu was untimely ill when the Boar struck havoc in the valley surfaced in his mind.

"Ok... fine," he sighed and decided to admit. "I... I just want to see you."

"Seeing me?" Tigress repeated, putting the lilies down on the kitchen counter. "Why not just tell me?" She echoed Jun's question from several days ago. This time, Po had an answer.

He cleared his throat. "I was going to, but… I _like_ coming to your shop. I... _like_ you."

He cringed right after the sentence fell from his mouth. He bit his lips and braced for impact. He had heard boys who lost their teeth for messing with her. It's a bad idea to say a wrong thing to a Kung Fu master.

After a few seconds lapsed, Tigress didn't seem going to punch his face, so Po continued. "Can I...Can I order another bouquet?"

Tigress frowned. "Yeah, why-?"

"I want to ask a girl out, but I don't know what her favorite flower is. What flower would you give to someone who works in a flower shop?"

It was a beautiful thing to see, the way Tigress' smile seemed to start out from posture as she relaxed...and extended its way up to her lips and crinkled her eyes. She glanced down at the lilies on the kitchen counter.

"Orange ones, peppered with dark speckles. Those smell heavenly," she said, smiling. And Po honestly should have known, Shifu had named her Tigress after all, obviously tiger lily would be her favorite.

"Is that a yes?" he asked.

* * *

Tigress returned home that evening. She had been on two weeks break from all sort of training and working in the flower shop instead. At first, she was skeptical the approach would work - until the day Po stepped into the shop.

"You look happy," remarked Viper when she heard Tigress hummed a song as she went past.

"I'm always happy," the tiger returned.

"Yes, sure. When you obliterate the training hall you can repeat that to me again," the serpent slithered closer. "Something must've happened in the flower shop. Tell me."

"No. Nothing," Tigress replied with her usual cool mask of nonchalance. "Just you know... regular customer."

Viper narrowed her eyes. Even though they only had been friends for a couple of months, Viper had learned to decode Tigress' unusual antics when it came to replying a question.

"I got a strange feeling about this _regular_ customer of yours," she grinned and whispered. "Is he handsome?"

She noticed her friend's jerked slightly at the question. Bingo. "Oh god, did he ask you out?"

"Shhh... It's next week. He told me he would take me out for lunch."

Viper shrieked happily, but something dawned on her. "But how will you escape training? Isn't your work in the flower shop is supposed to stop tomorrow?"

"I told Shifu that I need another two weeks recuperating from 'too-much-work syndrome,' so he'll let me work there for another week. I don't mean to brag... but, my training and assignment are years ahead of you. I'm sure Shifu won't mind."

Viper scoffed, but she knew what Tigress said was true. The tiger had been putting extra hours and she was well ahead of everyone else. Two weeks of _slacking of_...no, _relaxing_ won't hurt.

"Tigress," called Viper right before her friend about to make her exit. "Can you tell me again the symptom of the syndrome?"

"Why?"

"I'll tell Shifu that may have suffered from one. See you in the flower shop."


	7. Bed Shopping

They said they were just friends. Friends who lived under the same roof, eat, train and spend almost every waking moment together. Friends who happened to go to the same mission, fight the same enemies and share the joy of victory together. They said they were just friends - who happened to hug, gaze and brush each other's paw so much that even Shifu had lost count.

But after their return from the Secret Panda village, Mantis was pretty good at ignoring the never-ending Dragon Warrior & Master Tigress show by this point.

As the team recovered from Kai's attack and everyone started to chill the hell out, Po and Tigress' interactions went from occasionally suggestive of something other than just friendship to overt, like, growling (not the threatening kind) to pinning (not the Kung-Fu training kind). They flirted, they gazed, they found stupid reasons to touch each other.

It was sickening.

So over the last few months, Mantis and Crane had escalated their coping mechanism when it came to Po and Tigress' super obvious little dance. Mantis had gone from exchanging pointed looks with Crane to audible sighs of irritation while Crane gave them exaggerated eye rolls.

Figured that the two lovebirds were way too preoccupied with each other to even _notice_.

The only real escape was just to ignore them. Po had been sharing a drop of his advance technique of achieving inner peace for months - tune out the rest of the world and just exist in his own space or some nonsense - but Mantis felt like an asshole standing around clearing his mind of clutter and listening to his own breathing. Or whatever stupid Inner Peace mantra he was supposed to be listening to.

But finally, out of self-preservation, Mantis learned to ignore the lovesick puppies and their pathetic attempts to pretend they were just friends and cohorts. He found his zen purely so he could stop witnessing their non-stop ineffectual flirting.

He got so good at it, actually, that he missed the beginning of the most ridiculous floor show to date, only tuning in to what was going on once Crane elbowed him. Mantis looked up from the tip of the spear he was working on and focused on those two knuckleheads.

They were standing way too close to each other (as always) and grinning into each other's faces. Tigress leaned one hip into her training bench, and Po loomed over her, crossing his now-muscular-arms (of course, because the-ever-so-humble-Dragon-Warrior could be a preening show pony sometimes) and still a little sweaty from his workout.

It was disgusting. And that was before Mantis figured out what they were talking about.

"No," Tigress said, shaking her head. "Firmness is important. Always, Po - firmer is better."

Mantis' eyebrows jumped up and he gave Crane a look that said, _What the hell are they talking about?_

"My muscle is firm," she told him, smirking a little bit. "Isn't that a good enough example?"

"No Tigress," Po shot back, "Your muscle is _hard_ , which is expected seeing how _hard_ you've trained. That's why we called you _hard_ core." He rested one of his hand on his elbow, drumming his claw on his chin contemplatively. "You know… I don't think I like _hard_ things." He flushed a little, and if Mantis weren't completely over these kinds of conversations, he'd probably find his ability to talk in unintentionally perverted circles kind of endearing. "I mean," he continued, because why leave things be when he could just keep making it worse, "hard can certainly be good in… appropriate situations. But not in bed."

Mantis choked on air and started to cough, eyes wide.

Po shook his head a little, and Mantis was pretty sure Tigress was making that smug face that she only ever directed at him. Crane laughed silently, his shoulders shaking and one wing pressed over his mouth.

"Wait," Po continued, somehow flustered, "Of course, in bed hard is good. Just, not in my bed," he finished.

"Are you sure?" Tigress countered back; her smug grin had grown in size.

Mantis was pretty sure he was going to pass out if he kept trying to suppress his laughter. He carefully put down the spear he'd been working on and turned all the way around and hop to the nearest stool.

"Tigress. Hard mattresses are bad. Other bed-related… hard things… are great." Po cleared his throat, biting his lip to contain whatever other terrible clarifications his brain wanted to spit out. "Oh… man!" he mouthed to himself.

Tigress was smiling that wide, delighted smile at him. "I believe you," she said, so suggestively that it kind of made Mantis uncomfortable. There were some things he did not need to associate with his temperamental ex-leader. Yuck.

"So you need something," Tigress concluded, "firm in your bed. For your bed - mattress. You need a firm mattress."

Mantis couldn't take much more of their weird-ass mating ritual, so he plastered a fake smile on his face and asked, "What about a hammock?"

Po jumped a little, and even Tigress, Master-Always-Be-Aware-of-Surroundings, flinched when she realized, yes, other people were actually being forced to witness this trainwreck.

"A hammock?" Tigress echoed, eyebrows raised in Mantis' direction. And then she narrowed her eyes at him.

Po shot Mantis an inscrutable look and turned right back to Tigress. Because of course he did. "I always kind of wanted a hammock," he teased. "Just like the one in the Secret Panda Village." That was about as insane as pulling her tail, Mantis decided.

"Hammock sounds terrible," Crane butted in quickly. "Every time you move, the whole thing reacts and pushes back."

"You mean like this?" Po shifted his body, probably miming something relatively innocent like hip-checking the theoretical hammock, only, of course, that's not what Tigress, Crane or Mantis got from his demonstration. Considering the context. "I don't think it's bad at all. In fact, it's felt kind of awesome! Right guys?"

Tigress made a strange wheezing noise, while Mantis stared at him, dumbfounded. Was it possible the Kung-Fu genius didn't understand that discussing beds and movements and hardness was level ten flirting?

"Right," Tigress managed finally, her voice full of humour and maybe a little bit of lust. "I've never slept in a hammock," she added, and oh, that little pause before she said "slept?" Mantis was totally about to gag. Tigress leaned even closer to Po, which Mantis hadn't thought was possible without them actually making out, and said, "And I bet that thing won't even last a day."

"Oh, Mighty Oogway," Crane murmured, his wing moving up to cover his eyes. "I can't believe this is still happening."

"Right?" Mantis answered. Because seriously.

"Let me know when it's safe to look," Crane added, and when Mantis glanced over, he was massaging his temples with his eyes resolutely shut.

As usual, Tigress and Po were paying them no attention. She pointed at Po's old, slightly bent bed and gave him a sceptical look. "If you think we're going to buy a piece of flimsy fabric when something far more sturdy and thicker clearly struggles, you are an insane crazy person."

Po leaned even closer to her that their muzzle nearly touched. "It's cute that you think you can stop me."

Tigress laughed right in his face. "Right. With what money are you buying this fabulous hammock? Remember that you still owe me hundred yuan to buy that collectables action figures from the antique fair."

"Hmmm," Po answered, uncertain.

Mantis snickered and exchanged amused looks with Crane. The oppressive sexual undercurrent to everything between Po and Tigress was exhausting, but the other two members of Furious Five heartily appreciated watching all slim built of Master Tigress take the high and mighty Dragon Warrior down a few pegs. Repeatedly.

"That's what I thought," Tigress answered smugly. "I'm buying you a bed. A real bed. A bed in which you can do all the things you need to do in a... You know what?" she interrupted herself, one paw held up in the air. "Let's just stop there. No hammocks. You need your body in peak physical condition, and that's a job for a nice, firm..."

"Oh, my giddy aunt," Mantis grumbled.

"...mattress," she finished, pausing to glare quickly at Mantis and Crane. "And that's enough from you two!" she added.

"I don't think I should let you buy me a bed," Po protested, but even Mantis could tell he wanted it pretty badly.

The bed. And, perhaps some fun sexytimes with Master Tigress.

"I challenge you to do 100 round of the training routine. If you were faster than me, hammock it is. If you didn't, you'd be asleep and kissing my toes," she said.

Po sighed in exasperation. Really, really fake exasperation. "Fine," he said. "I'll let you buy me a bed."

Mantis rolled his eyes. What a shocking plot twist.

"And a pillow," Tigress added, beaming now, which was very strange coming from her. "And sheets. Now go shower and get dressed," she ordered. "You're all sweaty."

Mantis had - seriously - about fourteen jokes he wanted badly to make, but Crane elbowed him more sharply this time.

"Fine," Mantis muttered. "But this better be it. I'd rather walk in on them three or four times than be subjected to more of this."

Crane glanced at the lovesick pair and turned back to Mantis, a little desperately. "It has to be it, doesn't it? I mean, they're going bed shopping."

* * *

Mantis took the steps up on the Thousands Steps two at a time, unreasonably excited for a work day without those two fools simpering at each other. Because they went bed shopping, which is not a platonic thing you do with someone. Or at least it isn't if you spend at least half of your day beaming at the other person like a half-wit.

So finally - finally - Po and Tigress reached what Mantis had to assume was their boiling point, debating what kind of bed to buy with matching, goofy grins. And then they'd offered distracted waves to Mantis and Crane and left on their bed-buying mission.

And to have a whole lot of making out that led to…. (fill in the blanks). Mantis could only hope.

Which was a little weird, actually - being so invested in the love life of his new dopey dumpling addict teacher and the formerly grumpy and disapproving leader of Furious Five. But if them knocking boots meant he and Crane could get some training done in peace? Well, then Mantis wished them all the best and hoped that Shifu wouldn't found out.

And maybe to take a day off and get all the gross lovey-dovey stuff out of their systems.

When Mantis reached the threshold of the student barrack, he didn't see a blushing Po or a smug Tigress. (Or a smug Po and a blushing Tigress, which would've been about seventeen times more amusing.) Instead, Crane was standing beside his dormitory door, wings crossed and glaring at something Mantis couldn't see.

"Hey," Mantis greeted.

Crane simply grunted.

"Where's the happy couple?"

Crane looked over his shoulder and sighed heavily. "Come here."

Mantis took a step and then stopped, throwing his appendage up in the air to ward off...

"They're not, like….currently banging over there, are they?" Because he couldn't hear anything to suggest sexual shenanigans, but Crane looked pretty pissed off. "I know I said I'd rather walk in on them, but I was..."

"Would you just come look," Crane ordered gruffly and pointed at Po's bedroom.

Somewhat reluctantly, Mantis moved to Crane's side and looked down at a _single_ sized wooden bed (decent size for one panda… nothing more, nothing less), perfectly made up with boring-ass, utilitarian sheets and one pillow.

Mantis blinked. "Wow."

"Yeah," Crane sighed.

Mantis shook his head slowly, feeling kind of disappointed, because….

"Tigress has no game."

"What?" Crane turned a puzzled look his way.

"They debate the firmness of mattresses until she gets him to let her buy him a bed," Crane said. "A bed. And then she bought him something worse than Shifu's bedroom." You don't seduce a guy by reminding him of his dictator-like teacher. Unless he's a freak or something.

Crane seemed to be considering Mantis' point for a moment, giving the bed a measuring look. "Okay," he conceded, "but let's not pretend that she's the one with the problem here."

"Oh, they both have problems," Mantis agreed. Like being total dumbasses, apparently. "He's stubborn as a mule and she's completely oblivious."

"No, she's not," Crane protested. "That girl doesn't have her hands all over me or you the way she does Po. I mean, she hugged him man! The closest thing she did to a hug on me was in the Training Hall. And that's involving me gasping for air."

Mantis considered that. Tigress was the most proficiently trained Kung Fu Master in the team for sure, but aside from patching them up, she only ever touched Mantis and Crane during training and in a context of a fight. Meanwhile, she and Po basically foreplayed their way around the Training Hall every day, so maybe Crane was right.

"Okay," he agreed, "but they spent hours testing mattresses and still nothing?"

Crane shrugged. "Maybe? I mean, this bed doesn't look slept in, so let's hope..."

The floorboard creaked, and Mantis turned to find the subjects of their speculation walking into the quarter. Po was in full chatter mode, filling Tigress in about... something, and neither of them even seemed to notice their teammates until they were maybe ten feet away.

"Hi, guys!" Po greeted, all smiles and cheer. Mantis narrowed his eyes, looking for any sign that he'd had a really good, really long night. No visible hickeys, no overtired smiles. "Oh," he said, glancing past them. "You saw the bed?" he grinned. "We compromised."

"Indeed," Tigress confirmed with a strange twinkling in her eyes.

"Oh, Oogway," Crane muttered, even as Mantis came to the same conclusion. These two fools certainly didn't compromise the way they really should've. Darn it.

Tigress frowned. "What? It's a perfectly good bed!" she argued. All the sparkly look in her eyes was gone in an exchange with a look that could kill. "I mean, did you sleep okay last night?" she turned to Po.

Po smiled at her, still with that panda-cub-who-wants-a-dumpling look. And Mantis sighed so loudly he almost missed Po's response: "I slept _great_ , Tigress. Thanks again."

"Seriously?" Mantis practically shouted. Po and Tigress turned coordinating wide-eyed looks of confusion his way, while Crane elbowed him, like, excessively hard it nearly sent him hurling past through the dorm wall. "Ouch," Mantis protested.

Crane gave him the eyebrows of judgment, and Mantis backed down.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I… twisted my appendage." It was a terrible cover, worse than Po's usual bullshit, but neither Po nor Tigress seemed interested in pursuing the topic when they could just beam stupidly at each other some more.

"I can't take much more of this," Mantis told Crane. "I'm pretty sure this is actual torture."

Tigress glanced over at them, blinking a little bit. "Torture? What? Something I need to know about?"

"Yes, actually," Mantis said, even as Crane shook his head. Messing with Tigress could well spell out death sentence.

Next to her, Po looked puzzled. "What's going on?"

"Apparently nothing," Mantis answered. And he just couldn't deal with another night of this. "I'm gonna..." He jerked his claws toward the door. "We get nights off, right? Like, Kung Fu Master sick days or something?"

"Yeah," Po answered slowly. "You sure everything's okay?" Even Tigress who usually voiced out her displeasure on any indication of slacking attitude seemed to be strangely compliant.

Mantis smiled tightly. "Everything is status quo."

Po gave him that compassionate look, which made Mantis feel a little guilty for being so angry. But he was angry on his behalf, kind of. Or at least on his libido's behalf (but if you have read of Panda libido, it's practically non-existent). Which, again, kind of gross since he was like a brother to him.

He closed the distance between them and placed a paw lightly on his tiny shoulder, "If you need to talk, I'm here."

Okay, well, he asked, and that's really all the invitation Mantis needed to offer his opinion. He opened his mouth to blurt out something like would you two just bang already?, but Crane wrapped one of his wings around his shoulders and propelled him towards the exit. "He's fine," Crane said, and Mantis was pretty sure his feet weren't even touching the ground as Crane moved him. "Just needs to clear his head."

"Can we just lock them in a room together until they figure it out?" Mantis asked, half-kidding, but also half-not-kidding. Because it wasn't the worst idea in the world. Even if they didn't figure anything out, he and Crane would be spared hours of their irritating interactions. "A room with just a bed?"

Crane shook his head. "They'll figure it out soon," he said, and it sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as Mantis.

"You better be right," Mantis said, pausing with one foot on the lowest stair. "I have mastered Master Snake hypnotizing trick, and with a dose of that strong alcohol in Shifu's bedroom and a hint of aphrodisiac..."

"Mantis..."

"Desperate times, man," he interrupted. "I can't take much more of this. You can't either."

"Just go," Crane said, gesturing down the village. "I'll see if we can meditate and ask Master Oogway for a wise counsel how to handle these two idiots."

Mantis took two steps, then turned back. "Locked room with a bed and no clothes," he said. "Feel free to include that alternative when you give him your little pep talk."

So Mantis took the night off. And if he spent a little time researching what kinds of locked-room options were out there on the off chance he actually needed to resort to desperate measures, well, who could blame him?


	8. Road to Tomorrow

Po's very favourite thing about his daughter was.. - well, to be fair, there's really not just one thing. It's more of a list. A long list.

Of everything about her, basically.

After over a decade married to the love of his life and raising a number of orphaned panda and turned their life around, it was finally their turn to taste another facet of parenthood.

Ping Ying Yue - as the name meant: the reflection of the moon - she was a revelation to him almost every day. He saw his father's kind eyes, his mother's selflessness, his own regrettable clumsiness, and, most endearingly, the sparkling intellect of his wife, Tigress, all packed into the small form of his daughter.

She's also so amazingly herself, somehow - a four-year-old dynamo that exhausted him more than most of the things he'd faced during his time serving the valley. Ying Yue wasn't the natural Kung Fu Master that Tigress was at her age, but she loved the art anyway. She'd got his curious nature, an irrepressible energy level, and her mother's fierce ability to focus when she's doing something she loved.

Like right now.

She was on the floor, adorably folded in half so that she could colour the picture of grandpa Shifu she'd drawn for Tigress. His fur was - unfortunately - discoloured into blue and green - the colours of crayons she could find, and his ears appeared massively disproportional to his body (well, it never was!). Ying Yue was so intent on her work that she didn't hear the door open, or the familiar pad of Tigress paws as she approached, offloading her sack, training vest, and house keys as she went.

Po looked up from his spot on the couch, grinning as his wife reached the living room doorway and stepped out of her shoes, continuing towards them on bare feet. She's wearing a flirty blue qipao that showed off her curves (slightly snug in the right places), and Po let his appreciative gaze linger. She still seemed troubled, some days, by the changes to her tight figure after childbearing, but Po saw her strength and the creation of their child in her body and was at least as attracted to her as he'd always been. She's still sexy as hell, but he's even more worshipful now that he'd seen her carry his child - the child that he had never thought would ever arrive after ten years of their marriage.

Tigress approached, dropping down beside him with a groan. "Hi," she told him softly, leaning in for a lingering kiss. It's not until she settled in beside him and raised her voice that Ying Yue noticed her presence. "Hey, kiddo, come give your mom a kiss."

Ying Yue's little stripey head whipped around, traces of dumpling still bore evident around her maw. "Mommy!" She pushed herself up, literally leapt to the small empty gap on the couch only to rush flying back to grab her drawing. She ran full tilt around the edge of the coffee table, ignoring her parents' admonitions to slow down, and hurled herself for the second time onto the couch. With a giggle, she settled in against Tigress, her arms around her mother's neck. "Hi, Mommy. Miss you."

"Hi, baby girl," Tigress answered, and Po grinned at the pet name. It was both funny and endearing to see the fearsome Master Tigress used that kind appellative on anyone. He thought he would never live to see that day.

"How was your day?"

"Good, Mommy," Ying Yue chirped, climbing over Tigress's lap to resettle between her parents. "Daddy and I went to the park and played on the swings, and there was a really loud fight between the croc bandits..-" She dropped her drawing in favour of broad hand gestures meant to, Po assumed, sketch just how big the croc bandit was- "and daddy was about to stop them when grandpa Shifu suddenly appeared and froze them with just one finger," she beamed with pride. "One. Finger. I bet the stick he used for walking was just a fake," she concluded to both Po and Tigress' amusement. "And then I draw you this!" She picked the picture up and presents it to Tigress proudly. "Perhaps you can give this to him tomorrow?"

"Of course," Tigress' eyes light up, and her smile was delighted as she accepted the slightly crumpled paper with a rough sketch of big-eared creature - that was Shifu alright. "Good job, Yue. Is this…-?"

"It's nerve attack!" Ying Yue interrupted, "pointing at the yellow blob she coloured on the tip of Shifu's finger. "Daddy said he used chi, the power to one's soul. So even when grampa is small, his chi can be as big as an elephant! That's how he beats Daddy and throws him all around the Training Hall like a rag doll. So, if I meditate more to make my chi stronger, I can beat Daddy too!"

Po rolled his eyes. Ying Yue had always had a crazy way in deriving and analysing phenomena around her; it fascinated Po, even when she's asking twenty minutes' worth of absurd questions that made connect to each other only in that amazing brain of hers.

"Oh," Ying Yue breathed, her eyes wide, "I need to show my picture to grampa Ping! Who knows he would want me to draw him too."

She wriggled out from between them and scampered off to her room to grab her drawing supplies.

Tigress huffed a laugh, leaning more heavily into Po as she traced the lines of Ying Yue's drawing. "This is pretty good," she observed.

She's not wrong - Ying Yue had trouble colouring in the lines, but the basic shape was recognisably a red panda, featuring large ears, small body, bushy tail, and four semi-proportional limbs. It's the fact that Shifu was gliding in the air with a gigantic ball of chi on his skinny hands had really made it clear that this version of Shifu had sprung from the bright imagination of a four-year-old. Tigress smoothed the paper a bit. "Shifu would be glad if he could fly."

"He almost could fly," Po remarked at his Master's gravity-defying ability. "I can't imagine what will happen if he were born with wings. And so were you."

Her forehead crinkled. The "Am I?" was silent, but he saw it plastered on her face.

"You _flew_ from the Jade Palace rooftop to the ground and zipped right across Valley of Peace to the Thread of Hope. That was..-"

"Awesome?" she finished with a chuckle.

"Yep," he nodded. A large grin split his face when he caught a glimpse of Ying Yue dashed in impossible speed crossing the living room to the bathroom and back into her bedroom. "And you know where our feisty princess got her energy from, see?"

Tigress tilted her head and crossed her arms in faux annoyance.

"She's your daughter," he said as an explanation.

Tigress scoffed but snuggled closer. "She _inhaled_ for a bowl of dumpling yesterday - literally. She's your kid, Po."

Po laughed, but before he can argue, Ying Yue came tearing back into the living room, a sack full of painting equipment clutched in one hand and Tigress action figure that she inherited from her big sister, Lei Lei. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, can we fix Daddy's marks now?"

Po leaned forward, and Ying Yue redirected, launching herself at him. She grinned up at him. "Hi, Daddy."

"Hi, Little Dumpling." Po dipped his head to kiss his daughter's tiny nose, which made her laugh and wriggle in a fake attempt to avoid him. She loved the scratch of his rough panda stubble but liked to pretend she didn't.

Her hand landed on his cheek, and she patted his jaw. "Daddy, can we fix your marks now?" She's grinning up at him, and her enthusiasm made his chest ache.

He glanced at Tigress with a wordless question. He could tell she's had a long day - the Valley had suffered from a few bandit attacks and she's been putting in long, tough hours to try to make sure the situation and normalcy rebounded quickly. It won't surprise him if she's not up for taking care of him tonight.

But Tigress was already scooting forward on the couch, reaching for Ying Yue. "Let's go get everything ready for Daddy," she told her, and Ying Yue went eagerly into her mother's arms.

Po watched them head upstairs, then pushed himself up with a little groan and made a detour for the kitchen. He grabbed some Camomile tea for Ying Yue, brew a large pot of Oolong for Tigress, and refilled his water jug before heading upstairs. He could hear their voices, Ying Yue narrating everything she's doing for her mother ("I did a split kick, Mommy!"), and Tigress praising her and occasionally correcting her as needed.

Pausing in the doorway to the master bedroom, Po watched his daughter crawling around on the bed, carefully straightening the clean bath sheet they've laid down to protect the red and grey duvet. Tigress had the hot herbal patches and the jar of solvent for his scars on a small hand towel to the side. Ying Yue tended to need more cleaning up than Po after each "mark fixing" session. It was a ritual these days, now that 40 was fast approaching and his years of injury have started to make themselves known in the form of aches and pains, for his girls to spend an hour every couple days easing his pain and healing his scars.

He couldn't believe, some days, that this _was_ his life. Becoming Dragon Warrior was merely a small part of the adventure - a beginning of many things. He couldn't believe he had Kung Fu. He couldn't believe he made friends with his idols - the Furious Five. He couldn't believe he became the Master of Jade Palace. But mostly he couldn't believe he deserved the kind of love his daughter and his wife give him so effortlessly.

Before he could get too maudlin, Tigress spotted him and reached out her paw. "C'mon over here, mister." She noticed the Oolong tea in his paws and grinned. "I knew I married you for a reason."

"Bet ya," he said with a smile that he forced because the thought of his life without her nearly squeezed the tears out of his eyes.

Tigress handed her the cup and Ying Yue's Camomile tea - they learned early that Ying Yue - just like Tigress - was not a particularly good multitasker when she spilt scalding hot tea down Po's spine. He deposited his water jug on the bedside table, tugged off his shirt (which he wore because Tigress insisted he needed to stop being shirtless in front of other people - she was his _only_ exception), then climbed onto the mattress, settling on his stomach. He pulled his pillow closer, then craned his neck to see Ying Yue kneeling by his ribs. "Okay, Little Dumpling."

She patted his back twice and put Tigress action figure right beside his face, making Po laugh. "Relax, Daddy," she directed. "You can snuggle with my Tigress if you need to," she added, then turned her attention to her mother. "Mommy, can I have the Wonder?" Po grinned into the pillow at Ying Yue's butchering of the complicated, pharmaceutical name of the scar cream's component.

"Of course, darling," Tigress answered.

And they got to work.

Tigress knew his tight spots, the deep tissue aches and pains that responded to the patches, so she methodically applied them. She took a few moments to work on his muscles, too, massaging when she felt a knot.

Ying Yue, meanwhile, fingerpainted the white lines and raised skin of his scars with the healing cream. She was so careful and so gentle as she worked. The first time they'd done this, by the time he'd flipped over to let them work on the scars on his chest, the sight of little Ying Yue leaning over him, her tongue between her teeth as she concentrated on soothing his old injuries had brought Po to tears. His baby girl - who barely graduated from wearing diapers - hadn't noticed the tears slipping down the sides of his face, but Tigress caught the way his breath hitched, cupping his face with her paws and pressing a soft kiss to his lips to ground him.

He didn't cry every time these days, but he felt it just as acutely. Ying Yue was as openly protective as Tigress, and as deeply affectionate as he was - and they both told him at least once a day that they love him. But something about these moments, something about the way he could feel the love in their careful touches, in the time and attention they put into making him feel just a little better, it hit him hard every time.

"Thank you," he murmured into the pillow, and he's honestly not sure whether he's thanking his girls, or whatever deity or fate brought him the two great loves of his life: Tigress and Ying Yue.

His wife pressed a kiss to the back of his shoulder, and his daughter patted him again. "You're welcome, Daddy."

Po smiles. "Thank you."


	9. The Hospital

Note: this is what happened if Tigress accidentally got food poisoning in a foreign country. And... Happy Chinese New Year!

* * *

Tigress wasn't used to waking up in a hospital bed. Really, the only time she really had was when she'd fractured her wrist during her first day of training when she was seven, and another time when she came into contact with River Fever and had to be isolated from everyone. If she allowed making any generalisation, she normally had her comrade and Shifu to find an antidote or patch gaping chest wounds in the Jade Palace's infirmary. So when she woke on starched sheets, listening to various cacophony of unfamiliar voices rather than voices of Mantis and Monkey arguing, confusion rolled in.

"Hey, it's okay," a voice to her left said. "You're in a hospital, but you're going to be okay. I mean, well...you weren't going to be okay, but I sneaked some of my dad's miracle herbs in and the doctors think you've made a miraculous recovery, but you're okay, you really are."

Po's face moved into view. His lips were pale and his eyes looked huge because he was so close. She immediately relaxed a little because Po was there and he looked fine. Unharmed. She tried to say something, but her throat was dry, so she ended up gesturing a little helplessly.

"What? Oh! Here, they left some water. Do you need help sitting up? I…" Po's paw fluttered for a second before she saw the determination take over. When he helped her adjust the bed and sit up, he remained unsurprisingly gentle. Po was always full of surprises, but that was never one of them. He handed her a water cup and refilled it after she drained it.

"Where?" she finally managed to say.

"Kazakhstan, still. We're in—oh, I can't pronounce it. I tried...but the nurse laughed at me," Po explained a little sheepishly. Then, the memory rolled in. The Furious Five and Dragon Warrior were assigned for an important secret mission in Kazakhstan to trace a group of bandits who were reported running away from China after stealing a few ancient artefacts from Gongmen museum—presumably to be sold for profit in the black market. But before their plan of ambush materialised, she had become ill of a very serious food poisoning.

"I guess I need to expand my cooking repertoire to include yak's milk," Po commented, which was the suspected culpable ingredient that had apparently sent her there.

"Please don't," she quipped, feeling the pungent scent of it still linger on her tastebud. "I'll stick with tofu diet."

"I told you to give your portion to me," Po pointed out, rather unnecessarily.

"I was trying to be polite to our host," she defended. How could Po remained in perfect health even after taking over everyone's portion (except for herself) was a mystery to her. "Where is the other?"

"Waiting on the dock, they're trying to find a messenger to send a message to Shifu before deciding to continue or abort the mission."

She didn't say anything, but perhaps her expression did.

"Anyway, you're going to be fine, they just want to keep you one night more, and that's when I laughed at the nurse because—well, that right there." He nodded at the fact that she had already swung her legs out of bed. "Guess you're signing out against medical advice."

"Damn right I am," she retorted. Her legs were shaking when she finally pushed herself to her feet, but she closed her eyes for a second and found her centre. Then she took another step and tipped forward.

Po caught her, bracing her with his paws on her shoulders. It put their faces close together, but she noticed a much more pressing matter: she could feel every bump and ridge in his paws through the thin fabric of the hospital gown, and there was definitely a ring on a finger he usually left bare. To double-check, she looked down at his left paw. She was pretty sure she wasn't hallucinating the rather simple wedding ring on his ring finger.

His wince didn't just speak volumes, it wrote a cliff-notes series as well.

"Tigress?" he said. "I...I was looking for a way to break that to you gently when you woke up and then you did wake up and it totally slipped my mind, and um, I can explain, I really can."

"Is there a Kazakh out there I'm going to have to go put the fear of god into?" she asked, and she was surprised by just how much she disliked that idea.

The Panda grimaced. "I can do that myself, thanks, but no, not exactly. You…yeah, let's sit you down first."

"Po, I'm fine—"

"By which you mean you're falling over." He gave him a solid push back onto the hospital bed. She could have fought him off, but she had learned not to argue with that expression.

The Panda took a deep breath."Tigress, they weren't going to let me in here."

"What?"

"We... I mean—I'm not your family. I know you trust me and you gave me the power to decide what to do with you whenever situations like this arise, but out here...they didn't recognize it, and I thought... I thought you were _dying_ , and I had to do something."

She gave him a pointed look. Her 'dying?' was silent, but Po had seen that sarcastic expression for too much to understand it without her saying.

"You stopped breathing! The doctor suspected some sort of food allergy."

"What does this have to do with anything, Po? Who did you marry?" she demanded. This was not the first time she struggled to follow Po's panda logic.

Po ran his paws down his face and blew out a breath. "Look down."

She did, but all she really noticed was that the hospital gown was a great deal shorter than she liked. She shifted the hem a little and something gold glinted on her left paw. Again, she had to ascertain that she wasn't hallucinating. She made sure her voice was measured and calm when she said, "Po, why am I wearing a wedding ring?"

"Because I told them I was your husband and then I went, and um, faked our marriage certificate?" The words came out in a rush. "Look, please don't be mad. It's not permanent, none of it's real. I just I had to think of something and there was no way I told them were are related because... —well...it is pretty obvious that I am a panda, and you... well you," he said vaguely.

"Anyway, here is the _thing_..." Po reached to his pocket pulling out a parchment.

She couldn't read a word, but from the tacky embellished print around its border, she could make a good guess it was the matrimonial certificate. She could read two columns, presumably witnesses, where Crane's and Viper's name were written neatly. And then her's and Po's right on the centre adjacent to each other, framed with some Arabic inscription, and then Mantis' name right on the bottom.

"He was the _fake_ officiator," Po explained. It would've been a funny joke if it wasn't her name on that marriage certificate. "Wait, are you mad? Is that your mad face? I can't tell."

"I'm not mad." But it was a lot to process, just like waking up in a hospital bed. The band on her finger felt oddly heavy for being a fake thing. But somewhere in her rationale had told her to relax. This was nothing real. "Where did you get the rings?"

"Hardware store down the street. If your finger turns green and falls off, try not to blame me." He rocked back on his heels, the usual gesture when he was nervous.

"No promises." She rubbed the edge of her claw over the ring. "It's not exactly great, but you did what you had to do and you saved my life. Thank you."

"Oh... You're...you're welcome." The sense of relief in his voice was undeniable, which was logical given the pretext: past experience had proven anyone who messed with Master Tigress would receive equally painful retribution.

For a moment, awkward silence reigned, and she stared at the ring on his claw while rubbing the one on her own.

Po cleared his throat. "Well, this is a great and fortuitous start to our _fake_ marriage and all, but want help getting out of here now?"

Well, her only wish right now was to get out of this craziest plot-twist of her life, courtesy of Po. "Please."

She stood on her own long enough to pull on the street clothes he picked up for her, but she needed his assistance down the hallway to the front desk.

It took half an hour of arguing with the doctors before they let her sign the paperwork, and she was almost seeing double when Po helped her out of the hospital and to the rickshaw. She kept her arm around his shoulders. His hand was clammy around her wrist.

She collapsed gratefully onto the passenger seat.

"Are you okay to pull this thing?" Her cat senses registered the loud protestation given by Po's tummy. "I'm ok if you want to do a snack stop."

"I'll be fine," he reassured. "You should sleep. You're looking a little green, but not in a 'your finger is going to fall off' kind of way."

"I'll sleep on the boat."

"If you're sure."

"I am," she replied, smiling to him. "Say, how far do fake husband duties go, exactly?" she said with her usual nonchalance, which was a miscalculated move on her part—because the next second she was nearly catapulted out of her transport when Po released the handles that balanced the rickshaw.

"Tigress, I...I am not planning to consummate our fake marriage with—"

"I was hoping we could stop and you could buy me a herbal tea since I can't seem to find my purse," she clarified, and she had the pleasure to see Po turned to that bright, stutter-y red that she shouldn't enjoy as much as she did. But she was kind of a sadist, and it was cute.

Not that she was ever telling him that.

"Oh! R-right," he said. "Herbal tea... I...—I can make that happen."


End file.
